The wind blew against the window pane, rattling against the loose frame. Kadrios
looked up from his book of "Sakhmet Tales", struggling to pull himself away
from the exciting life of Hatshepshaisha, the first female pharaoh of The Lost
Desert. He was picturing her in her sparkling white kilt, a gold and lapis collar
that covered her chest and back, gold embossed leather gloves and high laced
sandals, astride her chariot, her bow raised against the infidel hoards as her
Uni's sharp hoofs churned up the desert sands. He could see, in his mind's eye,
the blinding flash of the sun, reflected off the snake and disk emblem which
rose from the front of her battle crown, which was a tight fitting leather helmet,
hard enough to take the blow of a wooden sword, but light enough that it didn't
impede her in any way.
Outside, the day was bright and cool. Kadrios could see the last of the summer's
leaves ripped away by the unrelenting fingers of the autumn wind. He sighed,
a little sadly, soon winter rains would begin and he would be housebound for
most of the next few months. Not only that, but the school term was about to
begin, and he hadn't finished his summer reading projects. Trust Mr. Pengelly
to assign such interesting books, but such prolonged, boring assignments.
Kadrios had torn through all the books during the first few weeks of summer,
saving this, the best, for last. Yet, here it was, the last Sunday afternoon
before school began, and he was only half way through. Normally a fast reader,
Kadrios found himself savouring each word of the the story, often stopping to
look out the window, with unseeing eyes, as he imagined the life and times of
the ancient desert pharaoh lives. He sighed again and levered himself off his
military style bed and padded over to his desk.
As Kadrios sat down in front of the mound of notes he had taken on his other
books, the wind rattled a sharp blast against the window, causing Kadrios to
jump a little. He was still slightly immersed in the ancient world, the wind
pulled him completely to the present, and left him feeling restless.
"I can't work, I'm going to be in such deep trouble, but it's too much," he
grumbled. "I'll bet Mr. Pengelly doesn't spend his summer holidays working.
I'll bet none of the teachers do. This is mean and vengeful. I'll bet summer
homework is the teachers' revenge for having to put up with us all year."
Kadrios pushed himself away from his desk, and picked up a stack of paper.
"At least I have my rough drafts done. I know that some Aishas would just hand
these in, and get a half decent mark too. I've seen worse papers get a B." He
stood considering for a moment, then dove under his bed and rooted around the
dirty clothes and half read magazines.
A few minutes later, ears ruffled and his forehead fur begrimed with dust bunnies,
Kadrios emerged victorious. In his paw, he clutched five duotangs, still in
their plastic wrapping.
Soon he had all his draft copies of work neatly tucked into their folders.
"I've always wondered what would happen if I didn't do a good copy," he thought,
giddy with his own audacity. "Won't Mr. Pengelly be surprised!"
Scooping up the nearly finished volume of "Sakhmet Tales", Kadrios tucked it
into his bookbag and dashed down the stairs from his room to his last afternoon
of freedom.
The air outside was crisp and promised fresh opportunities, a chance for adventure.
Kadrios ran to the market square, eager in anticipation of some last day of
holiday mischief. He wandered over to where a small group of pets were gathered
around the hot-dog stand. Pushing his way to the front, he pressed his forehead
against the warm glass of the display case.
"Whatcha want feller? I don't make no money from lookie loos, so step up, make
a choice and step off," the surly Mynci at the cart growled.
"Um, one of those!" Kadrios blurted, pointing to a double hot-dog
As he ate his purchase, which was loaded with mustard and onions, Kadrios wandered
away from the giggling clutch of schoolgirl Aishas who whispered about his studious
appearance.
"School's not for another day!"
"Is he "testing" his new clothes?"
"What a nudnik!"
Ignoring them, he sat on a park bench, where he precariously balance the cardboard
container on the edge of the armrest. Struggling a little with the buckles on
his bag, he extricated his book and was soon lost in the daily life struggles
of Hatshepshaisha again.
Beep! Beep!
"Are you getting on or not!?" A voice rasped through the veils of consciousness,
ripping Kadrios rather rudely from his vicarious adventure. He looked up, a
little bemused, not really in the present.
"Huh?"
"Stop gaping like some Koi out of water, and get on or you'll mess up the whole
schedule!" The voice appeared to be coming from the open door of a large blue
bus.
"Get on..." Kadrios echoed, putting his book away and picking up the now cold
hot-dog
"No food on the bus," Kadrios could see the speaker now, a very diminutive
striped Kau.
Shrugging he shoved the entire hot-dog in his mouth, and began to climb the
stairs.
"Mmph free ghoing?" He tried to speak around his hot-dog, which, incredibly,
seemed to have grown once it was inside his mouth.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, and sit down already!" the Kau shrieked,
a little hysterically.
Disgruntled, but not knowing what else to do, Kadrios sat down. There weren't
many choices, as the bus was already filled with school aged pets, mostly Lupes,
who all seemed to have some sort of packs with them. Most of them were wearing
sandals and sunhats, which Kadrios found strange, considering it wasn't really
all that warm out.
He chewed and swallowed, then turned to the white female Lupe sitting next
to him.
"Where are we going?"
She looked a little amused, "Why did you get on if you didn't know where we
were going?"
She thumped a big red Lupe in the seat ahead, "Can you believe this guy?"
He turned and looked, no stared, at Kadrios, before bursting into a hearty
laugh.
"Well, you'll see when we get there, won't you?" He smirked at the girl Lupe,
then turned around again.
Kadrios harumphed to himself a little, he couldn't believe how rude people
were today. Usually he was unaffected by how others perceived him, but this
was really unnecessary. He decided to ignore everyone and finish his book.
To be continued... | 
